It’s a ritual for many Valley residents on road trips to the coast – a pit stop in Los Banos along Highway 152. It’s the perfect spot to stretch your legs, get a bite to eat, and use the bathroom before heading up and over the Pacheco Pass. But contrary to the urban legend, the town isn't named for those bathrooms. Today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots, the real story behind the name Los Banos.
While the Yokuts and other tribes had used Pacheco Pass for thousands of years, Gabriel Moraga was the first European to explore the area around 1805 or 1806. In the years that followed Father Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta ventured from Mission San Juan Bautista over the pass to the San Joaquin Valley. He discovered a creek with natural pools near the summit, which took the name Los Baños del Padre Arroyo. The creek became known in anglicized form as Los Banos Creek.
In 1863 Henry Miller arrived in the area. Soon he would start his Canal Farm ranch, and would go on to become one the largest cattle ranchers in the country. In 1889 the Southern Pacific Railroad came to the area, and Miller developed the town of Los Banos along the tracks, supplanting an earlier settlement a short distance away, which became known as Old Los Banos.
Today, every spring the state parks department hosts a boat trip and hike on the San Luis Reservoir to explore the pools along Los Banos Creek, which they call The Path of the Padres.
